Brick or tile apparatus.



C. M. GROVES.

BRICK 0R TILEAPPARATUS.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 9. I918 Patented Mar. 11, 1919.

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ATTORNEYS C. M. GROVES. BRICK 0R TILE APPARATUS.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 9 1918 Patented Mar. 11,1919.

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BRICK 0R TILE APPARATUS.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 9. 191a Patenfed Mar. 11.1919.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

. RN Y WITNESSES 1 mc ah CHARLES 1VL GROVES, OF HUDSON, W YOMING.

BRICK OR TILE APPARATUS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Mar. 11, 1919.

Application filed May 9, 1918. Serial No. 233,591.

To all whom it may concern:

Beit known that I, CHARLES M. Guovns, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Hudson, in the county of Fremont and State of Wyoming, have made certain new and useful Improvements in Brick or Tile Apparatus, of which the following is a specification.

My present invention relates generally to brick and tile apparatus, and more particularly to a machine utilized in loading kilns, in connection with which bricks are formed and fed, the parts being adjustable for movement, so that kilns may be loaded from side to side, Or a series of kilns may be so loaded, and the brick fed at the required height for loading the kiln or kilns in tiers of brick. V

In accordance with my improvements a machine is presented having means to support a brick machine with means for feeding clay or other brick making material thereto, and with means for feeding the formed brick at various vertical levels, the entire machinebeing'movableso that a kiln may be loaded from side to side or a series of kilns may be filled, and it is to be understood that the above applies equally well to tile and various other blocks or articles.

In the accompanying drawings illustrating my present invention Figure 1 .is a top plan view illustrating my improvements;

' Fig. 2 is a side elevation; f

Fig. 3 is a sectional rear elevation;

Fig. 4 is a detail illustrating a portion of one of the locking devices;

Fig. 5 is a sectional side view illustrating a portion of the clay feeding conveyer, and,

Fig. 6 is a diagram illustrating certain of the connections for moving the machine, as hereinafter described. 7

Referring now to these figures, my invention proposes a machine, the frame of which is generally rectangular, having uprights 10 at its four corners, the lower ends of which are connected to rigidly spaced side bars 11, as best seen in Fig. 2, and the upper ends of which are connected by side bars 12, as well as transverse bars 13, the latter of which are seen in Fig. 3.

At their forward and rear extremities, the lower side bars 11 support the transverse axles14 of wheels 15, upon which the enably engaging tracks 16 extending across tire frame is movable, these wheelspreferthe kiln opening or along a series of kilns, as desired.

To the front and rear faces of the several uprights 10 are secured vertical rack bars 17 and engaging these rack bars are gear wheels 18 mounted at the opposite ends of shaft'19, having bearing in the outer ends of brackets 20, extending forwardly and rearwardly from adjacent the opposite sides of a platform 21, adjustable vertically within the frame by virtue of these connections: This platform 21 has centrally disposed brackets 22, projecting forwardly and rearwardly therefrom in portions of which are bevel gears 23 engaging bevel gears 24 on the beforementioned shafts 19, gears 23 being secured upon shafts 25 at the outer ends of which are hand wheels 26 positioned above the operators platforms 27 forwardly and rearwardly of the platform 21 and connected thereto by angular supporting arms 28, as best seen in Fig. 2.

Thus, it is obvious that when the hand wheels 26 are rotated, the platform 21 will be raised or lowered, depending upon the direction of such rotation through the gears 23 and 24, shafts 19 and gear wheels 18, engaging the racks 17. The platform may be locked in desired vertical adjustment by means of dogs 29, which are fulcrumed upon the shafts 19 adjacent the gear wheelslS, asbest seen in Fig. 4, their lower ends being adapted for engagement with the teeth of the racks 17 The upper ends of the dogs 29 at the front and rear of the machine are connected by rods 30 having intermediate offset portions 31 above the operators platforms 27, so that the connected dogs may be simultaneously shifted into and out of active position.

Mounted on the adjustable platform 21 is a brick machine of conventional form, the machine being indicated at 32, the shaft 35 of which is connected by a belt 34 with a motor 35 also mounted on the platform. The delivery end of the brick machine 32 is disposed adjacent to the inner end of a laterally projecting brick conveyor 36 in the form of a conveyer belt mounted within a,

frame 37, the inner end of which frame is pivotally supported in brackets 38 on the platform 21 and the inner shaft 39 of which conveyer is provided with a bevel gear 40 in engagement with a bevel gear 41 on a.

jack shaft 42, the latter being connected to the motor 35 by a belt 43. To the outer end of the frame 37 of the brick conveyer 36 are attached the outer ends of flexible supports 44 inclining upwardly and in wardly and wound at their inner ends upon a drum shaft 45 supported in bearing brackets 46, connected to one of the upper side bars of the main frame, one end of this shaft 45 having a crank 47 by means of which it may be rotated, and the connections 44 wound or unwound to respectively raise and lower the outer end of the brick conveyer.

The jack shaft 42 is also connected by a belt 48 with the inner shaft of a feeding conveyer extending rearwardly from the main frame, said conveyer in inner and outer sections 49 and 49 respectively of which the outer'sectionappears at 49 the sections being respectively. within frames 50 and 51, whose adjacent ends are flexibly connected by pivot links 52 so that the inner end ofthe outer section 49 slightly laps the outer end of the inner section 49. The inner end of the inner section is movably mounted above the brick making machine 32 by virtue of the pivotal connection of the inner end of its frame 50, as seen at 53.

The outer end of the outer section 49" is pivotally connected at 54 upon a loading platform 55, on wheels 56, the latter of V which may travel on tracks 57 between the tracks16 of the main frame, as seen in Fig.

1 in articular this latform receivin cla or a mixed material for tne making of brick tile and the like from cars and the 7 like as at 58, movable on tracks'59 paralleling the tracks 57 The material is shoveled or otherwise transferred from the cars 58'to the loading platform 55, and from the latter is carried byvthe feeding conveyer 4949 to the brick or tile making machine 32. The

' motor 35 in its normal operation actuates the feed conveyer, the brick making machine and the brick conveyer 36 and the jack shaft frame, and as seen in the diagram Fig. 6.

The drum 60 is loose on thejack shaft 42 and this drum is controlled by virtue of a clutch, of which one member 62 isformed at one end of the drum and the other memher 63 is splined on the jack shaft and controlled bya handle 64 fulcrumed'on the plat- ,form 2l, so that while normally inactive,

' drum may beengaged when desired in order to move the entire machine upon the 7 tracks 16, along one kllILOI a series of kilns in the normal loading operation, and maybe :halted where desired,'by simply releasing the 7 controlling clutch. During such movement it will be noted that the loading platform 55 together with the feed conveyer49,49 leads may be, without order to keep abreast of such increase. It

may be that one or two or more tiers of brick may be taken care of by merely ad: justing the brick conveyer 36 vertically through the rotation of the drum shaft 45, so that vertical adjustment of the platform will only be necessary at periods defined by the length of time required to place several tiers of brick properly within a kiln. 7

As first above stated, the machine as a whole is adaptable equally to the manufacture and loading of tile and blocks as well as brick, and as'constructed it may be utilized to load a kiln or kilns in various ways depending upon the number of kilns, their relative arrangement, and the particular desires of those in charge ofoperationof the machine. 7 r V I claim r j 1. An apparatus of the character described,-comprising a wheeled frame, a vertically adjustable platform within the frame,

a pair of conveyers extending from the platform and movably connected thereto, a forming machine mounted on the platform to receive material from one of said conveyers and discharge formedarticles upon, the other of said conveyers, means for adjusting the platform; vertically, and means for adjusting the latter of the two conveyers in a vertical direction. i

2. An apparatus of. the character described,comprising awheeled frame, a platform adjustablevertically within theframe, relative connections between the, platform and frame whereby the former maybe ad justed, an article forming machine mounted on the plat-form, a conveyer leading from the frame and'having a movable'connection with said platform to I'GCQIVG. formed articles from said machine, a'source of-power on r the platform and adjustable therewith, and

connections between said source ofpower and the said machineand said delivering conveyer. V

3. An apparatus ofthe character de-v scribed, comprising a wheeled frame, a platform adjustable vertically withinthe frame,

feeding and vdelivering conveyers extending from the said platform, a forming machine mounted on the platform to receive material from the feeding conveyer and deliver formed articles to thejdelivering conveyer,

and a-sourc'eof power on the platform con: .130

nected to the forming machine and to the said feeding and delivering conveyers as described.

4. An apparatus of the character described, comprising a portable frame, a platform within the frame, means for adjusting the platform vertically in the frame, including controlling hand wheels; operators platforms carried by the first named platform adjacent to the said hand Wheels, and conveyers leading to and from the first named platform and movably connected thereto, all for the purpose described.

5. An apparatus of the character described, comprising a movable frame, a platform adjustable vertically within said frame, abutments adjacent the opposite limits of .movement of the said frame, a source of power on the platform, conveyers leading to and from the platform, a forming machine on the platform disposed to receive material from one of said conveyers and deliver material to the other conveyer, a drum on the platform having a flexible connection wound thereon and connected to the said abutments, and connections between the said source of power and the said drum, forming machine, and conveyers, for the purpose described.

6. An apparatus of the character described, comprising a movable frame, a platform adjustable vertically within the frame, conveyers leading to and from the platform and movably connected thereto, a forming machine on the platform discharging on one of said conveyers and receiving material from the other of the conveyers, said last named conveyer being in flexible connected parts and having a movably loading platform connected to the outer end thereof, for the purpose described.

7 An apparatus of the character described, comprising a Wheeled frame, a platform adjustable vertically within the frame, a Wheeled loading platform, a conveyer extending from the said loading platform to the vertically adjustable platform, said conveyer being in flexibly connected sections movably connected to both the loading and vertically adjustable platforms, a forming machine on the vertically. adjustable platform receiving material from the said conveyer, and a second conveyer leading from the vertically adjustable conveyer and movably connected thereto for receiving and dischargmg formed articles from the said machine and all substantially as described.

CHARLES M. GROVES.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. G. 

